All research was done by the 8th Grade students at Chardon Middle School in Chardon, Ohio during October, 2014. The students were surprised to find that the internet could not offer a satisfactory answer to an important question: How many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves? Convinced that they could discover the answer and eager to contribute to world's knowledge, they became historians.

SIGNER

SLAVES?

EVIDENCE #1

EVIDENCE #2

Adams, John

NO

In
letters from 1819, 1820 and 1821, late in his life, John Adams and slavery
views became more obvious as he condemned the practice as "an evil of
colossal magnitude" and worried about the effect slavery would have on
the nation in the future. For John Adams, slaves were human beings and fully
deserved the rights ordained by God that all men were granted.
http://johnadamsinfo.com/john-adams-and-slavery/89/#sthash.NmJ0dliy.dpuf

Did
John Adams own slaves? No, and not only because of his family's moderate
wealth. Adams was morally opposed to slavery and refused to employ slaves.

“Some
of the slaves who fought in the war never received their freedom, including
Peter Bartlett, the slave of well known congressional delegate and signer of
the Declaration of Independence, Josiah Bartlett. Source: accessed on
10/16/14. The First American Army: The Untold Story of George Washington and
the Men behind America's First Fight for Freedom [Bruce Chadwick] on google
books.

Braxton,
Carter

YES

“Braxton
acquired large amounts of land and numbers of slaves, and he both cultivated
and traded tobacco.”

“In
February, 1786 the Jersey legislature passed a bill sponsored by Clark for
“An Act to prevent the Importation of Slaves . . . , and to authorize the
Manumission of them under certain Restrictions and to prevent the Abuse of
Slaves.” Even though Clark owned three slaves, and did not provide for their
release until both he and Sarah died, this act was an important recognition
by the legislature and Clark, as Bogin noted, that “slavery involved ethical
considerations.”.”

“In
1786, before leaving the State Legislature, Clark, who was a slave-owner,
sponsored a bill titled “An Act to prevent the Importation of Slaves . . . ,
and to authorize the Manumission of them under certain Restrictions and to
prevent the Abuse of Slaves.” Though the bill passed, Clark’s slaves were
only freed upon his wife’s death in 1804.” SOURCE: Accessed on
10/16/2014
http://dansamericanrevolutionblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/biographical-sketches-of-signers-of.html

Clymer,
George

NO

"Among
the expected glories of the Constitution, next to the abolition of Slavery
was that of Rum…”

“When
Floyd reached his 20th year, his father and mother died within 2 months of
each other, and he inherited their large estate on Long Island along with the
responsibility of caring for his brothers and sisters. Six years later he
married. His bride helped care for the family and assisted in managing the
farm, for which slaves supplied most of the labor.”

“Franklin
owned two slaves, George and King, who worked as personal servants, and his
newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, commonly ran notices involving the sale
or purchase of slaves and contracts for indentured laborers. “

“Franklin
did not publicly speak out against slavery until very late in his life. As a
young man he owned slaves, and he carried advertisements for the sale of
slaves in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette.”

"Mr.
Elbridge Gerry [MA] thought we had nothing to do with the conduct of the
states as to slaves, but ought to be careful not to give any sanction to
it." Accessed 10/16/2014
http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100:debate-over-slavery-at-the-constitutional-convention-august-21-22-1787-&catid=41:the-gathering-storm

he
ultimately refused and rejected to sign the Constitution because it did not
include a bill of rights.

SOURCE:Accessed on On May 13, 2011
http://derrickjeter.com/2011/05/13/founding-fathers-friday-button-gwinnett/

The
Times presented an idyllic image of how “Mr. Keys arrives by plane to his own
landing strip and lives in Button Gwinnett’s remodeled house, putting his
guest in converted slave quarters.” Interestingly, the Keys never built a
landing strip and Button Gwinnett never lived in the house that bears his
name. Guests stayed in cabins built in the style of slave quarters.”

"for
he then purchased a fine plantation on the Savannah River, not far from Shell
Bluff, and furnished it with a considerable number of negro slaves, and all
animals, implements, and provisions requisite for its proper
cultivation." Accessed on 10/16/2014
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~galiber3/bios/hall2.html

Hancock,
John

YES

Hancock's
family lived comfortably, but only owned one slave to help around the house.
John was sent to live with his aunt and uncle after the death of his father
in 1744.

http://www.revolutionary-war.net/john-hancock.html

His
father was a reverend who made a comfortable living; the family even owned
one slave.

“During
his absence, he suffered greatly in respect to his property; his plantation
being much injured by a party of marauders, and all his slaves seized and
carried away. Some of his slaves were afterwards reclaimed; but one hundred
and thirty were finally lost, being transported, as was supposed, for the
benefit of the sugar planters on the island of Jamaica.”
http://colonialhall.com/heyward/heyward.php

“Also
during this time he suffered greatly in respect to his property; the British
injured his plantations and a band of marauders, his slaves seized and
carried away, some of which were afterwards recovered.”
http://www.dsdi1776.com/signers-by-state/thomas-heyward-jr/

Hooper,
William

YES

The
decision--which side to support -had no neat and simple answer.When the
Britsh evacuted Wilimington in November 1781.Willam Hoopers slaves acted in
different ways.
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editons/nchist-revolution /1917

.

Hopkins,
Stephen

YES

“In
a clear statement on the morality of slavery, Rhode Island’s Stephen Hopkins
manumits his slave, Saint Jago Hopkins, because slavery is a violation of
God’s will. Rhode Island would not abolish slavery through gradual
emancipation until 1784..”
SOURCE: Accessed on 10/16/2014
https://www.sethkaller.com/view-item.php?id=807

“In
1772, Hopkins was again elected to the general assembly. He freed his slaves
in 1773 and the following year he sponsored a bill that prohibited the
importation of slaves into the colony.”
SOURCE: Accessed on 10/16/2014
http://virtualology.com/StephenHopkins.com/

Hopkinson,
Francis

YES

“Like
a number of the other signers, Hopkinson was also a slaveholder.”

“I
am this day honoured with your letter of the 12th. of January, accompanied
with a number of Copies of the Constitution of the Pennsylvania Society for
promoting the abolition of Slavery, and the relief of free Negroes unlawfully
held in bondage; and the laws of Pensylvania which related to one of the
Objects of their Constitution, as also a Copy of Thomas Clarksons excellent
Essay upon the Commerce and Slavery of the Africans; which several Pamphlets
I receive with pleasure and request You to accept my grateful Acknowledgments
for the same.”
SOURCE: Accessed on 10/14/2014
http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=45&page=497

Jefferson,
Thomas

YES

“A
new portrait of the founding father challenges the long-held perception of
Thomas Jefferson as a benevolent slaveholder”

“Jefferson
drafted the Declaration of Independence, wrote the Virginia Statute for
Religious Freedom, and founded the University of Virginia. Yet, over the
course of his life, Jefferson owned 600 people.”

http://www.monticello.org/slavery-at-monticello

Lee,
Francis Lightfoot

YES

“The
year 1750 was painful for Francis and his younger siblings while their older
brothers were still in England: Both parents died that year when Francis
turned 16. The children inherited a combination of land, money, slaves and
company stock for land speculation in the Ohio River valley.”

“Lee
was a signer of the Declaration of the Independence, a slaveholder, and a
leading figure in the Virginia gentry at the time of the Revolution.”

SOURCE: Accessed on 10/18/2014
http://railroads.unl.edu/blog/?p=412

Lee,
Richard Henry

YES

“As a young adult, Richard Henry Lee decided to rent out many of his
inherited slaves as well as his inherited lands hoping to support his family
on the proceeds while devoting his professional efforts to politics.”

My
kinsman who signed as “Thomas Lynch Jr” owned slaves and a plantation as
well. He did not free his slaves afterwards.

“Thomas
Lynch Jr owned slaves and a plantation as well. He did not free his slaves
afterwards”.

Source accessed on 10/15/2014

http://mariannsregan.com/slaveholders-among-the-founders-part-3-of-3/

McKean,
Thomas

NO

“He
augmented the rights of defendants and sought penal reform, but on the other
hand was slow to recognize expansion of the legal rights of women and the
process in the state’s gradual elimination of slavery.” SOURCE: Accessed on
10/16/14 http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-274

http://prezi.com/x9odfsqgjoix/copy-of-thomas-mckean/

“Thomas Mckean was born in 1734 in Delaware, and he died in 1817 at the age
of 83 and did not own slaves.”

SOURCE: Accessed on 10/19/14

Middleton,
Arthur

YES

“Arthur's
plantation had begun to make money. By 1720, his estate consisted of over
5000 acres and he owned over 100 slaves.”

“By
1720, the estate consisted of over 5,000 acres and Middleton owned over 100
slaves”
SOURCE: Accessed on 10/16/2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Middleton_(1681%E2%80%931737)

Morris,
Lewis

YES

“With
the uncles death in 1691, Lewis Morris, at the age of twenty, inherited the
New York and New Jersey estates, a major interest in mills and iron works,
sixty-six slaves, and extensive personal properties.” SOURCE: Accessed on
10/19/2014 www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1919535?uid=3739760&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104857957857

“Soon
after, more than a thousand acres of woodland, all located on navigable
water, were burned, his house was ransacked, his family driven away, his
livestock captured, his domestics and tenants dispersed, and the entire
property laid waste and ruined.”

“Morris
did own slaves eight generations ago, as did Benjamin Franklin and other
prominent Philadelphians. Robert Morris and Thomas Willing also "engaged
in the slave trade" as a side business to their shipping and property
investments, said Morris, a software consultant.”

“When
Thomas Nelson’s father died, Thomas received 20,000 acres of land and over
400 slaves.”

SOURCE: Accessed on 10/15/14
http://kids.laws.com/thomas-nelson

Paca,
William

YES

“
William B. Paca, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a Maryland
governor. Juliana and her husband lived on Wye Island in Queen Anne's County,
where she had inherited the Wye Plantation. John also inherited Wye Hall from
his father, who had owned the other half of the island. The census recorded
117 slaves on their Wye Island property in 1800, and 100 slaves in 1810.”
SOURCE: Accessed on 10/16/14
http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5400/sc5496/029900/029983/html/029983bio.html

“One
son of a 'servant' named, Virgil, was sold in 1733 (16 years after William
Penn's death) to Thomas Penn by Joseph Warder thus providing evidence that
the Penn family had never given up the ownership of slaves.”

Caesar
Rodney was a slaveholder of about 200 slaves on a plantation of about 1,000
acres. 14 year after his death his slaves were freed

Byfield,
Caesar Rodney’s, 800-acre prosperous farm was worked by slaves. With the
addition of other adjacent properties, the Rodneys were, by the standards of
the day, wealthy members of the local people.

Ross,
George

NO

“That year he also undertook negotiations with the Northwestern Indians on
behalf of his colony, and took a seat as vice-president of the first
constitutional convention for Pennsylvania.”

"Quaker opposition to slavery and the concept of individual liberty
that grew out of the colonies’ crisis with Great Britain inspired the
foundation of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS) in 1775…By 1820, only
200 slaves remained in the state, but those black Pennsylvanians who were now
indentured servants still did not enjoy complete freedom throughout the 18th
and 19th centuries.”

“Edward
had started a law firm with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. The firm had taken
off and made the two men very successful. It wasn't long before Rutledge was
one of the leading citizens in Charleston, and owned quite a bit of land and
almost 50 slaves.”

“Mr.
Roger Sherman [CT] was for leaving the clause as it stands. He disapproved of
the slave trade; yet, as the states were now possessed of the right to import
slaves, as the public good did not require it to be taken from them, and as
it was expedient to have as few objections as possible to the proposed scheme
of government, he thought it best to leave the matter as we find it.”

"I
would suggest that there were numerous, and not simply one signers who never
own slaves. Must be included John Adams and James Smith of
Pennsylvania." Source:
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-high-s&month=0309&week=b&msg=E5uCV1zGiWW3IKFaJYTu2w&user=&pw=

.

Stockton,
Richard

YES

He
was also a slave owner who didn’t free his slaves, in spite of being the
father-in-law of Benjamin Rush, one of the most prominent anti-slavery
advocates of the revolutionary era.
http://stocktonat40.blogspot.com/2010/02/that-which-we-call-stockton-by-any.html
accesed on 10/16/2014

Richard
Stockton of the Class of 1779, a trustee from 1791 to 1828 and the first
citizen of Princeton, reputedly owned several slaves, freeing one in 1823
(Princetonians: 1776-1783)
http://www.princeton.edu/mudd/news/faq/topics/slavery.shtml accesed on
10/16/2014

Stone,
Thomas

YES

“Stone's
original plan was to build a small, modest home for him, his wife, and their
two daughters but before the house was completed, his father died and five of
his younger brothers and sisters came to live with him at Haberdeventure
creating the need for larger living quarters. During the 1780s, the
Haberdeventure slave plantation probably supported about 25 to 35 people
including a number of slaves.”

"Two
signers of the Declaration of Independence, George Taylor of Pennsylvania and
Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire had been white servants. Accessed
10/16/2014.
http://books.google.com/books?id=FwhqKQbUn9cC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=Signer+Matthew+Thornton+on+slavery&source=bl&ots=dIFELew-jj&sig=qQWCqDYet48XQU3MQWNbvX0_ZpE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=831JVLXUOYKNyATR5YGoAQ&ved=0CFIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Signer%20Matthew%20Thornton%20on%20slavery&f=false

.

Walton,
George

NO

To discourage the English class society, strict rules required every man to
work his own land: no slavery, no large grants of land, no rum.

http://www.dsdi1776.com/signers-by-state/george-walton/

“George
Walton played a leading role not only in the movement to
persuade Friends to free their slaves but also in the confrontation.”

“William
Whipple was a slave owner. He married Catherine Moffatt and they lived in her
father's mansion on the river in downtown Portsmouth, today one of the city's
surviving historic houses. The slave quarters, where Prince, his cousin (or
brother) Cuffy, and others most likely lived, can still be seen today.”
SOURCE: Accessed on 10/16/2014
http://esperstamps.org/aa10.htm

"General
Whipple was attended on this expedition by a valuable negro servant named
Prince, whom he had imported from Africa many years before.”

*****
Upon arriving at congress, he was too late to vote for independence, but he
did get a chance to sign the Declaration of Independence. He continued to
serve on different committees until the end of the war.

A
man of naturally ardent temper, he threw himself vehemently into the struggle
for independence, wielding a vigorous pen and drawing generously on his purse
in support of military activities. During a great part of the Revolutionary
War he was a member of the council of safety, and expended nearly all his
property in the patriot cause. He abandoned his business and went from house
to house soliciting private donations to supply the army. Williams also made
frequent speeches to induce a larger enlistment. Throughout the war, his
house was open to the soldiers in their marches to and from the army, and in
1781 he gave up his dwelling to the officers of a detachment that was
stationed for the winter in Lebanon. SOURCE: Accessed on 10/16/2014
http://virtualology.com/WilliamWilliams.com/

Wilson,
James

NO

“Slavery,
or an absolute and unlimited power in the master over the life and fortune of
the slave, is unauthorized by the common law . . . . The reasons which we
sometimes see assigned for the origins and the continuance of slavery appear
when examined to the bottom to be built upon a false foundation. In the
enjoyment of their persons and of their property, the common law protects
all. ”

“He
argued that the slave trade clause would in fact allow for the end of slavery
itself. In speeches he made the subtle shift from the "trade" to
slavery, and since most of his listeners were not as legally sophisticated as
Wilson, he was able to fudge the issue. Thus, Wilson told the Pennsylvania
ratifying convention that after ‘the lapse of a few years... Congress will
have power to exterminate slavery from within our borders.’”

“
John Witherspoon, president of the College of New Jersey from 1768-1794,
owned slaves. Indeed, Varnum Lansing Collins notes that the inventory of
Witherspoon's possessions taken at his death included "two slaves . .
“

“
Oliver Wolcott, the Connecticut born Secretary of the Treasury, wrote to his
wife that this palace "cannot be kept in tolerable order without a
regiment of servants."
Source: Accessed on 10-16-14
http://bobarnebeck.com/slavespt5.html

“The
following is a letter freeing his slave: Deed of Emancipation… And that my
said servant, whom I now make free as aforesaid, may be known here-after by a
proper cognomen, I hereby give him the name of Jamus.”
Source: Accessed on 10-18-14
http://wolcottmilitarymen.blogspot.com/2011/08/oliver-wolcott-1726-1797.html

Wythe,
George

YES

“A
young member of his family, on discovering that Wythe had conditionally
willed part of the family property to his slaves, decided to enlarge his own
share by poisoning them with arsenic.”